Tag: transgender

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Twitter: #WeJustNeedToPee Campaign For Transgender Bathroom Rights

Does this person look like they belong in the Ladies room?

In recent months, several “bathroom bills” have been filed in state legislatures in the attempt to keep transgender folks out of their gender-expressed bathrooms. This is all done, of course, with the scary premise that straight men would ‘dress up’ as women to achieve access to watching women use the facilities.

The hashtag #wejustneedtopee has been around for a while, having started in Canada. But it recently took a new turn as transgender activist Michael C. Hughes has begun a “selfie” component to the Twitter meme to show how silly the laws would be.

Take a look below at just a few of the tweets in the past few days. It makes it clear what the point is…

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GLEE: “I Know Where I’ve Been” Performed By Coach Beiste, Unique & 200 Transgender Singers

Dot-Marie Jones as “Coach Beiste” on GLEE

Last month it was revealed on the TV series GLEE (now in it’s final season) that the character of “Coach Beiste,” played by 3-time Emmy Award nominee Dot-Marie Jones, would transition as a man upon the revelation that he was transgender.

Last Friday saw the return of “Coach” where he encountered mixed reactions to transitioning. In the end, transgender character “Unique” welcomed “Beiste” back with a powerful rendition of the song “I Know Where I’ve Been” from the hit musical Hairspray – accompanied by a 200 member chorus of transgender singers.

Check out the very powerful performance below:

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Laverne Cox Cast In New CBS Pilot Doubt

Laverne Cox cast in new CBS pilot, Doubt

Transgender actress Laverne Cox continues breaking barriers as news arrives that she’s been cast in a new CBS network series, Doubt.

The Orange is the New Black actress will play a transgender Ivy League-educated attorney, described as “competitive as she is compassionate. She’s fierce, funny and the fact that she’s experienced injustice first hand makes her fight all the harder for her clients.”

The Doubt role was always conceived as a transgender character, and it’s tough to imagine a better catch for the part – Cox made the cover of Time magazine last year in a story about the transgender movement. While there have been plenty of transgender characters on broadcast TV shows in the past, they are often short-term parts or comedic roles.

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Trailer: Drunktown’s Finest

Independent feature film, Drunktown’s Finest, following an acclaimed run on the festival circuit, is coming to theaters this season. Presented by executive producer Robert Redford, the film will open in New York City at the Quad Cinema on February 20, in Los Angeles at the Arena Cinema on February 27 and follow in select markets over the coming weeks.

Drunktown’s Finest premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, winning the Grand Jury Prize for Best Dramatic Narrative. In addition, the film was awarded HBO Best First Feature awards at Outfest 2014, as well as Best Film at the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco.

Synopsis: Drunktown’s Finest is the coming-of-age story of three young Native Americans – a college-bound Christian girl raised by white parents, a rebellious and lost father-to-be, and an aspiring transsexual model – as they struggle to escape the hardships of life on a Navajo reservation in New Mexico.

As the three find their lives becoming more complicated and their troubles growing, their paths begin to intersect. With little in common other than a shared heritage, they soon learn that the key to overcoming their obstacles may come from the most unlikely of sources, each other.

Check the trailer below and the official Facebook page here.

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Watch: “Coach Beiste” On GLEE Comes Out As Transgender

In this scene from GLEE’s 3rd episode of the season, three-time Emmy Award nominee Dot Marie Jones (“Coach Beiste”) comes out as transgender to Sam (Chord Overstreet) and principal Sue Sylvester (out actor Jane Lynch).

I applaud the show approaching a very important subject. Some fans of the show, however, point out that this story arc conflicts with who the character has professed to being in the past (“deep down I am still just a girl”).

I think the challenges transgender folk face are real, and very important, so I look forward to seeing how this is handled during the Fox series’ last season.

I think with Dot Marie Jones handling the acting duties, the arc is in great hands.

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Tumblr Account Of Leelah Alcorn Disappears From Tumblr

The Tumblr account of Leelah Alcorn, whose suicide this past week has galvanized the LGBT community, has disappeared.

Those searching for Leelah’s account are now greeted by a standard Tumblr ‘not found’ page, which states: ‘There’s nothing here. Whatever you were looking for doesn’t currently exist at this address. Unless you were looking for this error page, in which case: Congrats! You totally found it.’

However, an investigation last year revealed that Tumblr appeared to have banned a number of tags from its mobile app, including ‘gay,’ ‘lesbian,’ ‘bisexual’ and ‘transsexual.’

They had also banned ‘depression’ and ‘suicide.’

Leelah’s last posts may have been removed either because she claimed to be transgender – or because their content related to suicide. This would not, however, explain why her entire blog, including artwork and images that she created for her sisters, has now gone.

An alternative theory is that her Tumblr account has now been removed by her family: either they have requested this of Tumblr; or her password has been located and the account now closed down.

Especially sad is that Leelah’s last two posts to her Tumblr account were written and pre-scheduled to post after her death. She clearly wanted her posts to live on as her legacy for future trans people to find and hopefully realize they were not alone.

And now, they are gone.

Sad.

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Dan Savage On The Death Of Transgender Teen Leelah Alcorn

In the aftermath of Ohio transgender teen Leelah Alcorn’s suicide, the LGBT community has rallied in her memory.

And none more fervently than Dan Savage, who calls for criminal charges to be brought against the teen’s parents:

Speaking to CNN, Leelah’s mother Carla Alcorn said, “We told him that we loved him unconditionally. We loved him no matter what. I loved my son. People need to know that I loved him. He was a good kid, a good boy.”

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Ohio: 17 Year Old Transgender Teenager Commits Suicide, Leaves Heartbreaking Suicide Note

Very sad to read the story of Leelah Alcorn, a 17 year old transgender teenager who committed suicide this past Sunday morning by walking in front of a tractor trailer on the highway.

Leelah struggled with her parents reaction to her coming to the realization that she was trans.

From her suicide note which appeared on her Tumblr account hours after she died:

If you are reading this, it means that I have committed suicide and obviously failed to delete this post from my queue.

Please don’t be sad, it’s for the better. The life I would’ve lived isn’t worth living in… because I’m transgender. I could go into detail explaining why I feel that way, but this note is probably going to be lengthy enough as it is. To put it simply, I feel like a girl trapped in a boy’s body, and I’ve felt that way ever since I was 4. I never knew there was a word for that feeling, nor was it possible for a boy to become a girl, so I never told anyone and I just continued to do traditionally “boyish” things to try to fit in.

When I was 14, I learned what transgender meant and cried of happiness. After 10 years of confusion I finally understood who I was. I immediately told my mom, and she reacted extremely negatively, telling me that it was a phase, that I would never truly be a girl, that God doesn’t make mistakes, that I am wrong. If you are reading this, parents, please don’t tell this to your kids. Even if you are Christian or are against transgender people don’t ever say that to someone, especially your kid. That won’t do anything but make them hate them self. That’s exactly what it did to me.

[snip]

My death needs to mean something. My death needs to be counted in the number of transgender people who commit suicide this year. I want someone to look at that number and say “that’s fucked up” and fix it. Fix society. Please.

Goodbye,

(Leelah) Josh Alcorn

In a follow-up post, Leelah apologized to friends and family but had this to say her parents:

Mom and Dad: Fuck you. You can’t just control other people like that. That’s messed up.

If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or depression there are resources for help:
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-8255

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Department Of Justice Says Title VII Bans Workplace Discrimination Against Transgender People

According to a memo released by US Attorney General Eric Holder, the Department of Justice will now interpret Title VII of the Civil Rights Act as explicitly prohibiting workplace discrimination against transgender people.

The AP reports that “in defending lawsuits, the federal government also will no longer take the position that Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act, which bans sex discrimination, does not protect against workplace discrimination on the basis of gender status.”